When you are applying online for a driving licence, passport, a European Health Insurance card or even a fishing licence, take care with the websites that you use. Searching on the internet will often result in private companies being at the top of the list, higher up than the agency that you need to apply to. The companies will charge a fee for providing the service of checking and or forwarding your application to the appropriate agency. The small print will explain that the site you have reached is not the agency you are looking for and that you will be charged for the service. Unfortunately, a lot of people miss the small print because they assume that they have reached the site that they were looking for.
Recently Trading Standards heard from two residents who had been caught out by this when applying for a driving licence and a passport. If you want to make sure that you don't pay additional fees, go directly to the relevant government site:
Editor's note:
The above advice from Trading Standards is about the specific risk of being mislead when searching online. There may be other cases where you wish to report a trading standards issue or seek advice if you think a trader has broken the law or acted unfairly. Contact details are available on theCWaC site
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